Rep Smith, author of landmark law, recognised for years of fighting Human Trafficking
.@IvankaTrump delivered remarks at the release of the Trafficking in Persons Report and honored this year’s TIP Report Heroes. pic.twitter.com/JteR293UcW
China scores lowest possible rating, Ireland does poorly
WASHINGTON, DC—Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) joined Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Presidential Advisor Ivanka Trump, and U.S. anti-trafficking ambassador John Richmond today at the State Department for the release of the 20th annual “Trafficking in Persons” or TIP Report mandated by Smith’s groundbreaking human trafficking law enacted in 2000.
Congressman Chris Smith, House of Representative portrait
Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District is an original cosponsor of the JUSTICE Act, comprehensive legislation which was introduced in the House of Representatives on Thursday. The legislation would build safer communities by ensuring greater transparency and accountability in policing.
Two days after Asbury Park revealed it would violate Gov. Phil Murphy executive order and allow indoor dining, Murphy announced the state was suing the Jersey Shore’s premier dining destination to stop the service.
“We have worked with the governing body of Asbury Park to try to amicably resolve the issue of their resolution regarding indoor dining. Unfortunately, they have not done so,” Murphy said at his daily coronavirus briefing on Friday. “We have one set of rules and they are based on one principle — ensuring public health.”The Attorney General will be bringing a lawsuit later [Friday] ag… Read the rest of this entry »
The nearly seven-year story of Bridgegate came to an end Wednesday and this being New Jersey, there was a surprise twist.
In a letter to the court, the U.S. Attorney’s office asked to dismiss the indictments against former Christie Administration insiders Bridget Anne Kelly and William Baroni — whose convictions were overturned last month by the U.S. Supreme Court — and moved to toss out the guilty plea against David Wildstein, who testified for the government in the bizarre scheme of political retaliation.“Given the decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, Mr. Wildstein, throug… Read the rest of this entry »
Jada Tulloch and Luke Farrell, Middletown High School North seniors. Photo courtesy of Luke Ferrell
By Luke Ferrell
Middletown, it’s time that we have a conversation about race. Merriam-Webster defines a conversation as “an oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or ideas”. Let’s “exchange” ways to make our community a better place without “exchanging” hate or negativity. I’d like to explain why even the “fifth safest city in America to raise a child” (SafeWise, 2016) cannot be excluded from hearing stories of overcoming racial adversity.
Lawmakers vote along party lines to permit at least $5 billion in new debt to deal with economic fallout of pandemic
BY JOHN REITMEYER, NJSpotlight
Legislation that would give Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration the authority to borrow billions of dollars to help offset projected revenue losses brought on by the ongoing pandemic cleared the Assembly Thursday in a party-line vote.
New Jersey’s response to the pandemic inside nursing homes was “an unmitigated failure” that led to “preventable deaths,” a group of anonymous health department employees charged in a letter to lawmakers Monday. Moreover, the administration “is making things up as they proceed” in order to reopen the economy, the writers also allege.
The letter, sent to Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr., R-Union and obtained by NJ Advance Media, also calls for the resignation of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli and an investigation into other top admin… Read the rest of this entry »
Revolution is delightful in the preliminary stages. – Aldous Huxley
Tom DeSeno
By Tom DeSeno
Asbury Park feels like we are dancing on a volcano.
An Asbury Parker named Felicia Simmons is running a rally on
Monday, at 5 pm, on the sidewalk in front of the Post office. At this writing, 3,000 people on the event
page are either going (1,023) or interested in going (1,947).
I justify the cause.
George Floyd suffered the only thing worse than death; he was tortured
first. Face down in the gutter, knee on his carotid artery, knowing he was
dying and begging for a life endowed by his creator especially for him, for
which no one had the right to take or make him beg. He died terrified. It didn’t last 9 minutes.
It lasted George’s forever.
Six weeks ago, an unarmed man was needlessly confronted and then killed in Georgia. Last week, a New York City woman became unhinged and reckless in the presence of a harmless man. And this week, America witnessed the murder of a helpless George Floyd. The victims, all black, were our fellow Americans. Fellow citizens who deserved “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
What is happening to us? The passage of time is supposed to make us more tolerant, more respectful, more accepting, more civil, less ignorant.
New Jersey’s top law enforcement official said Friday the state “will never tolerate the types of police practices” that resulted in the death of George Floyd, the Minnesota man whose death in police custody ignited protests nationwide.
State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement he was “horrified by the footage of Mr. Floyd’s death,” and the recent arrest of the former officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck was “an important first step in the search for justice.”
The comments came the evening before a planned protest in Newark over Floyd’s death.
